Spider-Women & Women Of Marvel: ‘Spider-Gwen’ And ‘Silk’ Confirmed; G. Willow Wilson Takes Over ‘X-Men’ [NYCC]

The news of a Spider-Gwen series broke Friday at New York Comic-Con, but with a few details missing. Thanks to Marvel's Spider-Verse panel on Sunday we now have confirmation; the book will be ongoing, it will be called Spider-Gwen, and the Edge Of Spider-Verse #2 team of Jason LaTour, Robbi Rodriguez and Rico Renzi will indeed all return.

The same panel also confirmed an ongoing series for another spider-woman, Silk, a recently introduced character who was bitten by the same radioactive spider that gave Peter Parker his powers back in Amazing Fantasy #15. Silk will be written by Supernatural TV writer Robbie Thompson and illustrated by New Warriors cover artist Stacey Lee. And on the subject of books with female leads, earlier in the day at the Women of Marvel panel, Ms. Marvel writer G. Willow Wilson was announced as the new writer on the all-female X-Men series.

The confirmation of the Silk and Spider-Gwen titles brings to three the total number of solo books starring women coming out of the Spidey office alone, as the same office also publishes Spider-Woman by Dennis Hopeless and Greg Land. Barring additional announcements, this means Marvel will actually bring the spider-women level with the spider-men in starring roles, with Peter Parker, Miles Morales, and Miguel O'Hara rounding out the spider-roster -- though Spider-Verse will have a lot of other spider-people kicking around. (Note: An earlier version of this article forgot about Miguel. Sorry Miguel.)

When we shared the news of the ongoing Spider-Gwen series to our followers on Tumblr our post quickly racked up over a thousand notes, with comments ranging from, "YESSS" to "YESSSSS" to "YESSSSSSSS" -- plus a few that we can't reprint here, but they also involved the word "yes." If that level of enthusiasm translates to sales, Spider-Gwen could be around for years to come.

Spider-Gwen's popularity may have taken Marvel by surprise; Silk is the new character they actually planned for. She hasn't sparked the audience's imaginations to the same extent, but she does boast something that Spider-Gwen lacks; a female creator on her book. That's not to say we'd change the Edge Of Spider-Verse team of Latour, Rodriguez and Renzi, as they've demonstrated a rare and palpable energy, but we always want to see more books about women created by women, and newcomer Stacey Lee is a welcome addition to Marvel's slender but growing pool of female creators.

And when women do get hired, it's great to see them landing gigs with the same consistency as their male peers. Maybe female writers are routinely turning down work at Marvel, but they always seem to have fewer titles on the go than the guys. Thankfully G. Willow Wilson has now landed her second title, and it's a great one; the all-female X-Men book.

Wilson's X-Men run begins with issue #23 in January, the first part of a four-part story called 'The Burning World', in which the X-Men investigate a sinkhole that opens up in the middle of a music festival -- where Gambit just happens to be in attendance. Each episode of the story will be told from a different character's point of view. No artist has been named at this time.

The Women of Marvel panel was also where Marvel unveiled the first of its Women of Marvel variant covers for Women's History Month in March. The covers feature images by some of the best established and emerging women in comic art, including Faith Erin Hicks, Jill Thompson, Vanesa R. Del Rey, and Sara Pichelli. And, to state the obvious, we hope all of these women are being offered work by Marvel during the other eleven months of the year.

You can see Silk artist Stacey Lee and Angela artist Stephanie Hans' variant covers for Women of Marvel month below, as well as covers for X-Men and Silk.